Zombie Story - X1 Virus
by flm12
Summary: Surviving the zombie apocalypse
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

I stared into the glazed over milky white, bloodshot eyes that looked at me with a never-ending animalistic hunger. A rage I never knew before boiled up inside of me. It started in my chest, moving out to the tips of my fingers and reaching my toes at a rapid pace. Heat radiated off me burning so intensely that I'm sure if it were at all possible it would consume the entire place in flames. This world has taken everything from me and right when I thought it couldn't get any worse the universe decides to sucker punch me in the gut and remind me that this new world will bring nothing but pain and suffering and heartache. It will never end.

But as strongly as I felt that rage flowing through me, it was nothing compared to the giant hole gutted in my heart. Those eyes were not her eyes. They weren't the eyes of the loving women whom I'd known my entire life. They weren't the eyes of the one who taught me how to tie my shoes with bunny ears, or played endless rounds of hop-scotch, or drove me to all my sports games and braided my hair. They weren't the eyes of the someone who helped with homework, and who cried with me during the dark times or laughed with me during the good times. And they were not the eyes of the one who encouraged me to chase after my dreams, gave me the best advice when needed, supported me in everything I did, but also reminding me where I came from and who I was in the inside are what mattered most. The eyes I stared into now showed no recollection of the daughter who stood before her. They were dead, empty, void of any emotion but hunger. A hunger to tear into my flesh.

I stared at my mother with a heaviness in my heart that grew with each step she took towards me. I knew what had to be done, but it didn't make it any easier. What I would do to see her vibrant blue eyes just one more time, to see my mother so jovial and full of life, instead of the walking decay she had become. I raised my arm, gun in hand, and whispered, "I love you, mom." Just before her outreached bloody fingers could grab hold of me, I pulled the trigger. The snarling and hissing sounds from my mother ceased as she dropped to the floor like a ton of bricks taking a giant piece of me with her. I collapsed to the ground as a sob broke free wondering where do I go from here.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Mom... MOM!" I yelled from upstairs. "Have you seen my-" I cut off. My mom appeared at the bottom of the staircase with my bookbag in hand and a smirk on her face.

"You're going to be a college graduate in how many weeks and still can't get your life together?"

I rolled my eyes. "I have my life together," I said. But with a look from my mother that clearly said 'yeah right,' I added, "... mostly."

My mom laughed and placed my bag on the bottom step. "Hurry up, sweetie, or you're going to miss the train.

I quickly made my way back down the hallway to my room. Even though it was spring, there was still a cold chill to the air, especially in the mornings. I dug through my pile of clothes for my favorite pair of jeans and a flannel shirt. The news was playing on my TV in the background, and I paused my search for clothes to sit on the edge of my bed when they started talking about this crazy virus that had gotten out of control.

"...the unknown virus that is now named the X1 virus from patient X is spreading faster than being contained, even with the additional precautions put into place over the last week and a half. CDC health officials and other researchers are no closer to finding a vaccine for the virus, nor do they appear to have any new knowledge on the source of the infection. Patient X was traveling back to the United States from a trip to Europe. It is unclear how many people Patient X came into contact with once the symptoms took hold. This map view of the United States shows where cases of X1 have been reported. Not only has the X1 virus spread drastically within the United States, but it appears to be a global issue as well with reports coming from at least 72 other countries as the list continues to grow..."

I stared at the map of the U.S. on the TV. Little red dots represented all the known areas with cases of the X1 virus. There was a lot of red on that map. The news continued with its regular weather report and I went back to getting ready for school with the virus on my mind. It didn't make sense to me what the reporters were saying. Not once did they state what the symptoms were or how to avoid getting infected. It was the same information over and over again about patient x and how the numbers of those affected have risen. It seemed to me that we weren't given the whole story.

"Francesca!" my mom yelled from downstairs.

I was running late and I knew finding a parking spot this morning was going to be a nightmare. Not having time to do my hair, I threw it up in a bun, grabbed my phone off the charger and hurried out of my bedroom. Once in the hallway, the door to my left opened and my 8-year-old little brother CJ came walking out rubbing his eyes and yawning. I smirked at him. "Were you up all night playing Xbox again?" I asked.

"No," CJ shot back quickly. I raised an eyebrow, and he sighed, "Yes... but don't tell mom!"

I chuckled. "No worries, kid. Your secret is safe with me." As I walked past him, I held my hand up for a high-five, "See you later, squirt!" He jumped up and smacked my hand with as much force as he could muster. "Bye, Frankie!"

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I grabbed my bookbag quickly slinging it on my back. "Mom, I'm leaving," I called out by the front door.

My mom came running out from the kitchen with a banana in her hand. "Bye honey," she said, handing me the banana. "I have an after-school meeting today, and CJ has baseball practice. You and your father are on your own for dinner tonight. He's still at work now, said there was some emergency but will be home soon." She kissed me on the forehead before I was out the door. "Love you... Have a great day!"

"See you later. Love you too!"

The drive to the train station was no more than 5 minutes. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was shocked to see it nearly empty. Typically, at this time in the morning, finding a parking spot was almost impossible with the rush of morning commuters. But on this Thursday morning, either everyone had car issues, or they were playing hooky from work or school. "Interesting," I muttered to myself. Maybe the X1 virus was spreading quickly around this area as well, I thought to myself. Taking the stairs up to the platform two at a time, I could hear the train whistle blowing as it approached the station. I had made it just in the nick of time.

Whenever I boarded the train on most days, I would have to stand in the aisle because of the lack of seats available. However today I had my pick of any window seat I wanted. As I sat down, the conductor came over and I handed her my train pass. "It's crazy how empty the train is today," I said to her. The conductor nodded her head in agreement. "In all my years working, I've never seen it this empty in the morning. It must be because of that virus. People are either sick or staying home." She punched a hole in my train pass, handed it back to me, and then went on to the next passenger.

The ride to campus is only about 15 minutes. It was one of the perks of already living in the city and attending school downtown. Public transportation becomes your best friend, except for the days when its your enemy. The walk to class from the station was uneventful as always. There seemed to be the usual amount of activity on campus compared to the relatively quiet train ride here. Food trucks along the roads were already put to work in the early morning as students lined up for breakfast sandwiches and coffee. That eased my thoughts a little bit, but I still couldn't push back the feeling that something terrible was going to happen. The news on the X1 virus, the empty train ride to school... things were a little strange this morning.

"Hey, wait up! Frankie!"

I turned around at the sound of my name. Livvy came running up behind me huffing and puffing. Livvy was my best friend since the 2nd grade. Her dad took a new job and they moved to the area a couple of doors down from my family. My mom decided to be neighborly one morning and brought a tray of cookies over to welcome them to the neighborhood. Livvy and I got to talking and we never looked back. Every brunette needed a blonde best friend, right? Livvy had an athletic build with blonde hair and brown eyes. She's an only child, so she spent countless hours over in the Martin household over the years. We've been going to the same school since 2nd grade, so we're pretty much a packaged deal at this point. I slowed down for her to catch up. "Four more weeks!" she puffed out when she was right next to me. "Four more weeks!"

I smiled brightly. "And then we are out of here."

We talked excitedly about graduation and our plans to move downtown as we walked to class together. We were going to find an apartment together after saving up enough money and be roommates since we missed that whole experience of college by being commuter students. Livvy's never had a roommate before, so she's in for a rude awakening if she's going to live with me. But I was confident we'd be okay since it already felt like we were roommates from the amount of time we spent with each other.

Once we enter the classroom, all conversation stopped. "Woah, where is everyone?" Livvy asked. Currently, the professor and two other students were the only ones in the classroom.

Dr. Thomas greeted us. "Hello, girls. It would seem that most students are staying home today. I've already received multiple emails from those missing class. I might cancel the session if it's only going to be us five."

I nodded and took my usual seat in the middle of the classroom next to Livvy. "This virus thing is getting out of control, don't you think?" I asked her.

Livvy nodded in agreement. "It's crazy! You know I hit zero traffic coming in this morning. Zip! There were hardly any cars on the road."

"Yeah the train was pretty empty this morning too," I said. "I feel like it just escalated so quickly." For as much news coverage the X1 virus was getting, I hardly knew anything about it. "Maybe we should have stayed home today too."

Dr. Thomas finally addressed us a few minutes later. "Okay, everyone. Unfortunately, I will be canceling today's lesson. I know how disappointed you all are to hear the news," he added with a smile. "We'll pick up next week hopefully with a full class. Make sure you be careful with this virus spreading around like wildfire. Enjoy your free time."

"What to do with all this free time?" an excited Livvy asked as we took the elevator back down to the lobby. We rarely ever had time like this while on campus. It was either sitting in class or sitting in the library doing homework. "If our first class got canceled, chances are the next one is too," Livvy said. "Let's go home. Or better yet, let's go shopping! I've got the car today, and it's a beautiful day out... let's go for a ride!"

"I couldn't agree more with you," I said, wanting nothing more than to leave campus. "But you know my mother. Saint Louise won't have her daughter skipping class with graduation right around the corner."

"Why not start now?"Livvy said with a laugh. "You haven't missed one day of class, like ever. How many perfect attendance awards have you won? Wait, don't answer that."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, why don't you pitch that to my mom and see how far you get."

Livvy sighed. "I guess it doesn't help that she is a principle," she replied. We exited the elevator and were back in the lobby.

Before I could say anything, there was a loud boom. Instinctively, we both dropped to the ground, as did the other people around us. My heart rate skyrocketed. "What the hell was that?" I asked frantically glancing around. We followed a small crowd of people outside where I got my answer.

Livvy pulled at my arm. "Look!" she shouted, pointing down the road two blocks away. There was a building engulfed in flames with a cloud of black smoke rising all around it. Complete chaos was before us as people were running and screaming. "Holy shit," I whispered. What the hell happened, I thought to myself.

Livvy suddenly bounded towards the building without warning. "Liv-" I shouted after her. "Livvy, what are you doing?!" I quickly followed her and grabbed ahold of her bookbag to stop her from moving any further. She pulled against me, but I held on firmly. "What are you doing?" I repeated with more force. "You can't go in there."

"That's the parking garage," Livvy moaned, still trying to get out of my grasp. "My car is in there!"

"Your car?" I asked incredulously. "Liv, are you crazy? You can't go in there! Look at that building! The whole thing is on fire. There's no way you'd be able to get to your car. You'd get yourself killed."

Livvy looked from me to the building. She slowed her breathing down and seemed to relax enough for me to believe she wasn't going to bolt again. I released her bag. "You good now?"

Placing both hands on her head, Livvy paced back and forth. "I cannot believe this is happening right now," she said. "The one time I drive to campus... are you kidding me!?" Livvy shouts, throwing her hands in the air.

"Talk about bad luck, right?" I said back, giving Livvy a small smile.

"If this is your attempt at trying to make me feel better, you're doing a horrible job at it," Livvy said, shooting me a glare. "My parents are going to kill me!"

"Hey, this isn't your fault," I said. "Your parents are not going to kill you. They'll be relieved knowing you were safe instead and not in a burning car."

Livvy glanced at me and nodded. With an exhalation she said, "You're right."

People continued to run all over the place in a panic. Angry flames swirled around, and the black smoke rose higher and higher. I could feel the intense heat from the fire as another great boom came from the parking garage. "We should probably back up a couple of blocks," I said, taking a step back. "I don't think we should be this close to the building."

"Good idea," Livvy said, following me.

The sound of people screaming from inside the building and around it made the hair on the back of my neck rise. "Oh my god," I said, raising a hand to my face. "All those people that must have been inside." But I didn't have time to dwell on that as Livvy yelled out to me.

"Frankie, look!" Livvy cried, pointing to the left of the parking garage. We watched as a figure stumbled very unsteadily on their feet. It was another student. "He needs help!" Livvy said, running towards the person. Leave it to Livvy to run towards danger instead of for the hills. I shook my head and ran after her. Livvy reached the person first and stopped so suddenly in her tracks that I nearly ran her over.

A boy collapsed to the ground and rolled onto his back. I sucked in a breath while taking in his appearance. Blood. There was blood everywhere. He had a huge gash above his right eyebrow that was bleeding heavily. One on his left shoulder to which his shirt was shredded revealing a chunk of skin missing. It took everything in my power not to vomit. Both his arms sported multiple scratches. There was even more blood on his jeans, but there didn't appear to be a wound there from what I could see. His eyes were shut tight, and pain etched the lines of his face.

I quickly bent down and took off my flannel shirt pressing it hard against the gash on his head. "We have to call for help," I said shakily. I was no medical student, but even I could tell that this did not look good.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," said Livvy with her phone already to her ear. "I'm on it." I shot her a quick glare. Always the smart ass.

The kid groaned, and I looked back down at him as his eyes fluttered. "Hey, buddy, what's your name?" I wanted to get him talking. He looked at me with dazed eyes and croaked out "Pe-Pete."

"Okay, Pete, my name is Frankie. We're calling for help, okay?" I told him. Pete gave me a little smile and managed to raise his hand to give me a thumbs up. Then his breathing became erratic, and he coughed up blood.

My eyes widened. How could someone have this much blood? "Hang in there, Pete," I whispered.

I stood up quickly and walked over to Liv who was standing a few feet away. Livvy gave out a frustrated groan. "Seriously?!"

"What's wrong?" I asked quickly. Something wasn't right.

"There's no service," Livvy said, waving her phone around like a mad woman. "I can't get through to anyone."

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed 911. All I got in response was a busy tone. "What the heck? It doesn't make any sense."

Pete started coughing uncontrollably. I walked back to him and again put pressure on his head wound. I couldn't bring myself to tend to the shoulder. "Hey, Pete, we're still trying to get help. Can you tell me what happened? Where you in the parking garage?"

Pete coughed again and nodded his head ever so slightly. "There was... there was an accident," he gasped. His breathing was becoming more erratic."A bunch... of cars... crashed into each other... People were going nuts..."

He cried out in pain, and I grabbed his hand careful to avoid touching any blood. "Then what happened? Were you attacked?" Pete nodded. I looked up at Livvy who looked just as uneasy as I felt. "Who attacked you?"

"People... people are... attacking each other... bitting... eating," Pete managed to get out before another coughing fit took over.

"What did he say?" Livvy asked, fear in her eyes. "Did he just say people were bitting and eating each other... like cannibalism?"

I went to ask Pete another question. "Okay, Pete, umm..." He was so still now. "Pete?" I asked tentatively, giving him a little shove. "You still with me?" When I wasn't getting any response from him, I stood up and backed away. "He's dead," I said quietly.


End file.
